Map error defers Kinvara pier decision

A DECISION on a controversial plan that would ban sleeping in campervans and on boats at Kinvara Pier, has been deferred for a month.
The issue of the Prohibition on Temporary Dwellings at the pier was on the agenda for Monday’s meeting of Galway County Council but a decision on it was delayed after an error was discovered on a map presented to the councillors.
“The proposal was ready to go. It was a technicality really,” explained local councillor Gerry Finnerty.
“There are a number of streets on which there will be no parking allowed. There is one part of the street that has no restrictions on it but this will not be marked in as a designated camping area.
“The council cannot afford to put in the necessary facilities for to make it an official camp site. What I would like to see is a private person coming along and opening a caravan park central to the town. That is the key though, it would have to be central,” Councillor Finnerty stated.
According to Councillor Bridie Willers, the bylaws were discussed at a Loughrea Area Meeting last week before being brought before the county council’s monthly meeting.
“We had the item on the agenda for Monday’s meeting but clarification was needed on the map supplied, so we deferred the item until next month’s meeting,” she explained.
Galway County Council says the proposal is in response to “a significant number of complaints” that it received on the issue of campervans remaining overnight in the vicinity of the pier, “in large numbers during the two festival weekends and to a lesser extent throughout the year”.
If the bylaw is passed it will mean that campervans, caravans and even boats could be barred from staying overnight by the pier in one of South Galway’s most picturesque villages.
The bylaw would prohibit overnight parking of campervans close to the pier in Kinvara and on nearby streets and also the mooring of vessels “for human habitation” on the water close to the pier.
The proposal sparked some controversy and meetings have been held in the locality opposing the plan.